Thessaloniki not a problem for Reds, Greens
Having the home advantage was not enough for Aris and PAOK to upset Olympiakos and Panathinaikos respectively on May 21 as they both succumbed to the two league favorites in the second game of the semifinal series for the Greek league.
Olympiakos beat Aris 102-76 at the Alexandrio Sports Hall to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series that precedes the finals.
The Reds had some quiet spells during the game but Aris appeared unable to take advantage of them and threaten its visitors, submitting from the first half (52-40 in favor of Olympiakos).
?Our bench and our player rotation helped us, so we can now look forward to Game 3,? said Olympiakos coach Dusan Ivkovic.
Loukas Mavrokefalidis led the scoring for the Reds with 18 points as well as collecting five rebounds. Milos Teodosic added another 15 points.
PAOK pushed Panathinaikos as much as possible at the PAOK Sports Arena and suffered a dignified 75-69 loss that gives the Greens a 2-0 lead in the series.
Panathinaikos had the upper hand throughout the game but PAOK gave the champion a run for its money at times through its good defense, never allowing Panathinaikos to stretch its lead beyond 15 points.
However, the Greens had an amazing Stratos Perperoglou, who in the best match of his career at the club scored 33 points with seven out of eight two-pointers and four out of six three-pointers in 31 minutes.
The third game of each series is scheduled for May 23 in Athens.
